An Album of Kakashi
by Amazingly Hyper
Summary: Thirteen oneshots all about our favorite copy-ninja, Hatake Kakashi! All songs taken from Montgomery Gentry. Oneshots not related.
1. He Don't Tell Me To

Every now and then on his way home, Kakashi liked to stop by the Yamanaka flower shop. He never did it twice in a row, and he never explained his sudden interest in flowers. But Yamanaka Inoichi was a very nosy man, much like his daughter, and he poked around. He heard things, and decided to narrow down the rumors to discover the truth. And the only way to do that was...

"So, Kakashi..."

...to go straight to the source.

The jounin glanced up from examining some common wildflowers, colorful things that Inoichi had only put into the shop to appease his wife. A single stormy gray eye narrowed in suspicion, but Inoichi was also very persistent. He would get to the bottom of this!

"Who's the lucky lady?" the older man asked slyly, leaning over the counter to nod at the flowers.

There was no reply. Kakashi just stared at him.

"A lot of rumors come through here, you know. In fact, I heard that Anko's been getting some flowers from a secret admirer lately," Inoichi pressed on.

Still nothing.

"But then again, Shizune's the victim of a flower craze, too."

A long, slow blink.

"Come to think of it, Inuzuka Hana's been a regular for mysteriously sent flowers."

The damned Copy-Nin _still_ wasn't rising to the bait. Inoichi resisted the urge to grit his teeth in annoyance, and turned from the younger jounin when a certain chubby genin approached the counter. The Yamanaka smiled at Chouji cheerfully, but as soon as the boy turned his back, Inoichi turned back to the wildflowers, and scowled.

Kakashi had disappeared.

* * *

><p>"They're beautiful!"<p>

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Glad you like them. I had to endure Inoichi's questions again. He brought up Hana, Anko, and Shizune this time."

Iruka laughed, his face turned away to hide the telltale blush on his cheeks as he set the flowers (complete with vase) on the kitchen counter. "Last time it was Kurenai, Yugao, and Tsunade-sama, right?" At Kakashi's grunt of confirmation, the chuunin turned back toward him with a raised brow. "But, Kashi... why? You don't have to keep wasting your money on flowers, really."

The jounin shrugged. "It's not a waste."

"But...!"

In a flash, masked lips met Iruka's, effectively silencing the teacher. It was over far too soon, with Kakashi pulling back just enough to separate their mouths by a few centimeters. Iruka let out a shaky breath, but Kakashi didn't grant him with another kiss, not yet.

"Anybody else would have tried to control me and it would be over," Kakashi said softly, tugging the tie from Iruka's hair. "Just blame it on my going-my-own-way attitude. But you... you're special." He tightened his grip when the chuunin blushed and tried to pull away. "Listen, 'Ru. Every morning when I wake up with your head on my shoulder... I realize something."

"Wh...What?"

"I know I've got to love you, until my life is through," the Copy-Nin said bluntly, his single eye peering into Iruka's as though looking for something. "What else can I do? I love you, Iruka... and you don't tell me to."

**A/N:** I know, I know, it's not one of the ones that were voted for at the end of 'For Your Entertainment'. My laptop actually broke down, and I can't get any documents off of it, so 'Kidnapped!', 'Spell Magic', 'School Daze', and 'Hallucination' are all pretty much out until I get get to the closest laptop-fixer person.

However, I did make this so that you were all aware that I am, indeed, alive! And RoR is NOT being abandoned; I'm very sorry for the long wait, the next chapter should be up soon.

Thank you for bearing with me!

Characters (C) Masashi Kishimoto

'She Don't Tell Me To' (C) Montgomery Gentry


	2. Something To Be Proud Of

**A/N**: Another chapter, another song. Sorry about not updating RoR, it's really giving me issues now.

As usual, I own nothing I work with but the idea.

Characters (c) Masashi Kishimoto

'Something To Be Proud Of' (c) Montgomery Gentry

* * *

><p>Kakashi sat at a fairly small table, facing his students. Naruto was glaring daggers at Sasuke, and Sakura was ready to hit the poor blonde. The jounin had to interfere, and fast, before someone ended up getting hurt.<p>

"How would you guys like to hear a story?"

The genin froze, Sakura's hand jsut barely raised from its original position on the table. Even Naruto tore his eyes away from the last Uchiha (or, at least, the last one that mattered). Sasuke looked as bored as always, no change there, but at least his eyes were on Kakashi.

"A story?" Naruto asked, pulling a confused face.

"Hai. A story. About me."

"About _you_?" Sakura cut in, surprised.

Kakashi fought the urge to smash his head on a nearby wall, table, or, frankly, any hard surface he could get to. Were his students always this dim, or were they just acting like it tonight? "_Yes, _about me. You want to hear it or not?"

Sasuke grunted, but his teammates nodded as one. Kakashi nearly slouched in relief. Another disaster thwarted, Hatake style. Of course, it didn't help that he was one of the most mysterious jounin in the village, and his face was as closely guarded a secret as the rest of his life, but the genin were now fully focused on him, and there was no pain in the near future that he could tell.

"There was a war, many years ago, when I was about your age. Your uncle and I, we were quite a pair." Kakashi shifted his attention to Sasuke, and the jounin smiled behind his mask. "We didn't get along that great, not at first... We fought like cats and dogs. He was desperate to prove that he was better than me, and I... didn't really care all that much. He went down in that war, but they missed me by a hair." Ignoring the Uchiha's shocked, wide-eyed expression, Kakashi glanced out the window to his left and sighed quietly.

"That's something to be proud of, brats. In the midst of a war, I understood my rival, gained the best friend a guy could possibly ask for, and learned that life is cruel. But I survived it, and I'm here to shove those very things down your own throats. Listen to me, Sakura, Naruto... Sasuke." Kakashi leaned forward, and met each of their gazes with his own, deadly serious one. "I survived, and you can too. This is a harsh life, but we can do it, for our village, our friends, and our families."

The genin remained silent, and Kakashi leaned back, sure that his message had gotten across, and continued his tale. "After that, work was all I had. I worked mission after mission, accepting whatever I could get, and I fought to keep their memories alive. I lost Sensei, Rin... Obito. I miss them, but they help me go on."

"Kakashi-sensei..." Sakura whispered.

"I didn't care about anyone else after that. Then Gai shoved himself into my life, and Iruka shoved me into yours. My existence meant something, as a teacher, instead of a mindless killing machine. No longer am I just Copy Ninja Kakashi, or Sharingan no Kakashi. No, I'm Kakashi-sensei, Baka-sensei to a certain brat..." He leveled a mild glare toward the blonde, and the kid ducked his head and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

"But, Baka-sensei..." Kakashi's glare intensified only a little, and Naruto rushed on with his question. "Are you proud of... us? Team 7?"

Kakashi maintained his glare for another moment, letting the kids wait it out, before he grinned and reached over the table to ruffle the blonde spikes affectionately. "Of course, Naruto! I'm teaching three of the most promising genin of your generation. And _that_ is something to be proud of."


	3. Gone

**A/N:** I would like to call attention to the fact that this entire thing, An Album of Kakashi, has MULTIPLE PAIRINGS, and no sexual themes. Therefore, dear readers, this doesn't count as yaoi (since it lacks sexual themes, especially those of a homosexual nature). Yes, there is gay love within this fanfic, as proven in the previous two chapters, since the pairing was KakaIru in both. I apologize if you stumbled upon this fanfic and, not knowing my tendency to write KakaIru, were surprised by the pairing.

As usual, I own nothing I work with but the idea.

Characters (c) Masashi Kishimoto

'Gone' (c) Montgomery Gentry

* * *

><p>It wasn't a temporary, typical, tearful goodbye. They wouldn't be making up just 'one more time'. Kakashi watched almost impassively as she tossed things into a suitcase, not bothering to help, not bothering to give her privacy during their last minutes together. He'd been toying with the idea that she was just going through a phase, but that wasn't the case. She was ranting while she was packing, going on and on about anything and everything he had supposedly done wrong in their relationship. He couldn't remember what he'd done to warrant such ranting and screaming, but she was going off the entire time, her face red with anger and the exertion of yelling for at least an hour. At one point, she slammed the suitcase shut and whirled toward him, pointing at him accusingly and yelling some more.<p>

Then she was gone.

Kakashi slumped on his couch, staring blankly around his messy apartment. It had always looked messy, even if only the books were scattered around. No, she'd made a _huge_ mess while collecting her things. Clothes that she had once worn but that belonged to him were thrown everywhere, hanging from the bookcase, the couch, the television... there was a chair somewhere behind him that had been tipped over - he'd heard the thud but hadn't bothered glancing back - and what few pictures the jounin owned were either crooked or on the ground.

Kakashi got to his feet slowly, walking over to one such frame that lay face down on the carpet, picking it up gingerly and running his fingers over the glass to check for any nicks in it. His eyes were focused on the three children within the picture, from the stoic Uchiha expression to the blonde brat's idiotic grin to the only girl's resigned smile. He hadn't seen the kids in a while, what with Sasuke's defection, Naruto's training with Jiraiya, and Sakura's apprenticeship under Tsunade. This picture was the only thing he had left of the glorified days when he had just become a sensei to a team of annoying but endearing brats.

"How long this time?"

Kakashi's head shot up, and he found a very familiar person in his doorway, surveying the damage done to the apartment with a serious expression.

"It's not temporary this time. We're done. That's it," the Copy Ninja said boredly, shrugging and replacing the picture on the wall, taking care to keep it straight.

"I've heard that for about two years now, Kakashi."

Kakashi said nothing, neither denying nor confirming his friend's statement. Instead, he moved around his living space, picking up clothes and straightening pictures, even righting the armchair that had been pushed on its side. Gai watched, noting that the smaller jounin's movements were far too controlled for the normally laid-back way he presented himself, and the carefully neutral expression on the visible part of his face. The Beautiful Green Beast frowned, and it looked almost alien on his face.

"What'd she say?" Gai asked coldly, radiating killer intent through the simple trio of words.

Kakashi ignored him.

"Kakashi..."

"I'm not in the mood today, Gai," Kakashi finally cut in, glancing at the taller man and away from the pile of clothes he had gathered. "I'll... I'll talk to you tomorrow or something. I've got to wash these and get her smell out of them."

It was an obvious dismissal, and gai knew better than to challenge his Eternal Rival when the Copy Ninja was feeling so down in the dumps. "I'll be back later, Kakashi. We're going to talk about this."

* * *

><p>"Kakashi."<p>

The jounin looked up warily, recognizing the voice and knowing what it meant. It was time to get chewed out by someone who had no business knowing his business. He wasn't in the mood for it, and had actually been on his way to request a long-term, out-of-the-village mission. He'd heard Kumogakure no Sato was very nice this time of year, with snow and fresh mountain air and people he didn't know personally and who certainly wouldn't know about his personal life...

"Iruka."

The chuunin winced at the very cold tone of voice Kakashi had used, but he gritted his teeth and did his best not to glare at the poor man. He was a teacher, dammit. He could stand up to a jounin, especially the one he had stood up to a couple of years ago about the Chuunin Exam. Kakashi didn't frighten him, or intimidate him. The jounin was human, just like everyone else, and not just the village's tool.

"I... heard about you and Anko. Are you...?"

"Don't pity me, Iruka."

That was it. Iruka's glare broke through, and he barely restrained himself from shoving the jackass into a wall. That would attract too much attention, and Iruka knew Kakashi honestly hated being the center of attention. Besides, from what Iruka had heard from Gai the day before, Kakashi was really broken up over this, and it was in the chuunin's nature to try and help him.

"I'm not pitying you, Hatake-san." The sudden switch back to surnames made Kakashi blink in surprise. "I know how close you two were. I don't understand why she hurt you like she did, either."

"I messed up. How, I couldn't tell you. Listen, Iruka, I'm not in a sociable mood at the moment. I may not be in a sociable mood for the rest of the week. I respect you enough to warn you not to talk to me for a while. I'm only going to piss you off, and you don't deserve it. I'll see you later." Kakashi turned and started to walk away. Iruka mumbled something, and the jouning froze mid-step.

"You're not alone, Kakashi... you never were."

But when the Copy-Nin turned around, Iruka was gone.

But he would be back. That was the difference between Iruka and Anko. He would always be there, even when Kakashi didn't want him. She... She was never coming back.


End file.
